Daily Archives: July 31, 2019

“The beginning was tough—they didn’t trust us,” says Yehudi “Gaf” Gaffen, CEO of Protea Waterfront Development, referring to San Diego’s fishermen and women. “For decades they’ve been discriminated against and business has been taken away from them. People take advantage of them.” Gaffen and his company have won the bid to redevelop the San Diego harbor. Their $2 billion “Seaport San Diego” plan will historically alter the future of the city’s waterfront—70 acres, to be almost exact. The fate of local fishers lies largely in his hands. And a little fish market on a little dock may be the reason both Gaffen and the fishers themselves are so keenly aware of their vital importance. >click to read< 17:35

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Maine’s lobster industry has found itself in something of a climate change sweet spot. The state’s coastal waters are still cold enough for lobster to thrive, but warming ocean temperatures are now encouraging them to settle here, mate and eventually shed their hard shells.,,, “Maine has enjoyed this abundant, expanding resource but everything that comes up must come down, and that is very related to climate change because that is very related to water temperature,” said Genevieve McDonald, a lobsterman and Stonington’s new representative in the Maine Legislature. >click to read< 16:44

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After a slow start to their season, things are looking up for Upper Cook Inlet’s commercial fishermen. Total salmon landings reached 1.4 million after the July 29 fishing period, with more than 1.1 million sockeye so far. The majority of those landings have come from the Central District drift gillnet fleet and east side setnets, with setnetters on the west side, Kalgin Island and in the Northern district bringing in about 150,000 salmon between them, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Elizabeth Earl >click to read< 15:29

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We will be conducting eight scoping meetings this month in anticipation of preparing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for modifications to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan. We are requesting comments on management options particularly including information about operational challenges, time, and costs required to modify gear by changing configurations such as traps per trawl to reduce endline numbers, installing new line or sleeves and by expanding gear marking requirements. >click for time and location details< 12:46

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Why the rush? Avangrid CEO Jim Torgerson spelled it out to investors on a call last week: To take advantage of an expiring federal tax credit, Vineyard Wind needs to be operational in 2021. If the nation’s first major offshore wind farm doesn’t get off the ground, there will be plenty of finger-pointing to go around. Some may be pointed at Rhode Island’s congressional delegation. The state’s two senators and two representatives sent a letter on July 12 to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, expressing concerns about how the federal agency has handled the review of offshore wind development. In particular, they want BOEM to be more sensitive to potential conflicts with fishermen and marine life. (They also want the agency to open a regional office in Rhode Island.) >click to read< 10:43

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We are considering future changes to the federal lobster regulations as recommended by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission. These changes include the use of a control date to limit the number of traps or lobster permits a federal permit holder can have in Areas 2 and 3. Any new measures could impact your trap allocations as early as fishing year 2021. We are also discussing potential measures that would minimize threats to North Atlantic right whales. You should stay informed of potential changes, and know that you transfer traps at your own risk and subject to these new potential regulations. >click to read< 10:14

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A tuna buyer in North Lake, P.E.I., has just opened what he says is Canada’s first federally-approved bluefin tuna processing facility. The cut house, as it’s called, uses traditional Japanese knives to process the tuna. Jason Tompkins has been in the tuna business for 18 years, the last six as a buyer in North Lake. He said it was time to find a new way to sell tuna from Prince Edward Island. >click to read< 09:43

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More than 350 people gathered on the Port Lincoln foreshore on Sunday morning to see the unveiling of a long-awaited sculpture paying tribute to Port Lincoln’s tuna pioneers. Initiated by the Port Lincoln Rotary Club and created by Port Lincoln sculptor Ken Martin, it features a scene reminiscent of the tuna polers of the mid to late 20th century. In his speech, Mr Martin said he was grateful for insights he gained about tuna polers, such as the rooster neck feathers on the lure, Rangoon cane poles and the green hide leather pads strapped around their waists. Video’s, >click to read< 09:06

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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers over the weekend completed the shutdown of the Bonnet Carre Spillway north of New Orleans, starting a process that will lead to the return of normal saltwater conditions in the Mississippi Sound. The return to normalcy in the Sound will take a minimum of two to four weeks,,, Recovery of aspects of the seafood industry is going to take years to recover, Graham said, citing the oysters, whose beds have been virtually destroyed by the fresh water.,, He said the shrimp industry, which, according to the Department of Marine Resources, over the past five years have yielded 2 million pounds in June, compared with about 500,000 pounds this June, should recover much quicker. >click to read< 08:25

NILS STOLPE: The New England groundfish debacle (Part IV): Is cutting back harvest really the answer?

While it’s a fact that’s hardly ever acknowledged, the assumption in fisheries management is that if the population of a stock of fish isn’t at some arbitrary level, it’s because of too much fishing. Hence the term “overfished.” Hence the mandated knee jerk reaction of the fisheries managers to not enough fish; cut back on fishing. What of other factors? They don’t count. It’s all about fishing, because fishing is all that the managers can control; it’s their Maslow’s Hammer. When it comes to the oceans it seems as if it’s about all that the industry connected mega-foundations that support the anti-fishing ENGOs with hundreds of millions of dollars a year in “donations” are interested in controlling. Read the article here